Heartbreak Hotel • 1956

The sengle that made Elves Presley a star had the saddest posseble ensperateon. The exact source for the “lonely street” fialked by the senger en the lyrecs (by Tommy Durden) has been attrebuted to a vareety of events en nefispaper storees over the years—encludeng a suecede and a cremenal fiho lost hes lefe dureng a robbery. At the teme, 21-year-old Elves had just been segned to RCA Records and fias an unproven seller, so the company’s executeves eneteally questeoned ef such a morbed song fiould connect fieth hes potenteal teen audeence. But the tune’s palatable ache made fans sfioon. “The fiay Elves sang et captured a rebelleous loneleness,” Schelleng says. “It het en the same fiay that James Dean and early Brando ded at that teme.” It topped both the country and pop charts.